Roanoke GOP convention: Will there be peace in the valley?

When Virginia Republicans gather in Roanoke this weekend for their 2014 convention, they'll be looking to get their mojo back.

Some will be looking for unity. Others for the closest thing to ideological purity they can get.

All will head into that convention hall knowing that the party put up a big fat zero last year in statewide elections, losing races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

But if they win a U.S. Senate seat this year and maybe help Republicans win a majority in the Senate? That would go a long way toward making things OK.

The experts' favorite to take his best shot at that is Ed Gillespie, the former Bush and Romney adviser with a long history of D.C. politics, a long list of lobbying clients and access to a lot of deep pockets. His campaign said it had raised $3 million as of last month, dwarfing a trio of GOP opponents running grassroots campaigns.

Former Air Force pilot Shak Hill has been the most visible of those opponents, making the rounds at conservative events around the state. He put more than $100,000 of his own money into the campaign and he's pitching himself as a truly conservative alternative to Gillespie, the long-time party insider.

Hill has a "B.Y.O.B." — Bring Your Own Bullets — shooting event planned for Friday afternoon, a few hours before U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the party's 2012 vice presidential nominee, speaks at an evening gala kicking off the convention.

Tony DeTora, who lives in Stafford County and works for U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Chuck Moss, an engineer and business owner from Prince William County, are also in the Senate race. They've not been as visible, but there are only 5,200 or so delegates expected to attend, limiting the need for a broad campaign.

Last year's convention certainly produced a surprise: Delegates picked Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson as their candidate for lieutenant governor after multiple ballots.

This year Gillespie is expected to win, and he may do so on the first ballot. He'll want a big win to launch him toward a November general election against U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat and early favorite for re-election despite predicted GOP gains elsewhere in the Senate.

"I think it's going to be tighter than most people expect," said Chris Stearns, the GOP chairman for the 3rd Congressional District. "But I think Gillespie will win on the first ballot."

Nominating a Senate candidate is the only major item on the convention agenda. The rest is "a lot of inside baseball," said Cliff Dunn, chairman of the Newport News Republican City Committee.

That inside baseball has been a little ugly lately. The party remains divided over the best way to nominate its candidates: Conventions where party diehards control the vote, or primaries open to all Virginia voters.

Establishment Republicans have generally pushed for primaries, arguing a need to open the process to more people. More conservative members — Tea Partiers and quasi-Libertarians, for example — prefer conventions because they have a better shot at nominating a conservative candidate less likely to tack toward the middle during a general election.

The party used conventions last year, then went down in all three statewide races.

The primary-versus-convention battle has played out in a number of intraparty power struggles this year. Even House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, one of the most powerful Republicans in the country, lost a round last month when his choice for 7th District chairman went down to a grassroots backlash in a close convention vote.

For now, the conventions-versus-primaries argument is largely settled, and the party will stick with conventions. But there is talk of a nonbinding resolution headed for the floor in Roanoke this weekend, calling on delegates to support primaries.

"It will be met with massive amounts of contention on the floor, even if it's not binding," Stearns said.